


Because You're My Home

by whatabodtit



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: I've been calling this an ice cream au, M/M, Modern AU, but it's really just a modern au, just a very fluffy, kinda angsty, not much ice cream involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-06 20:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3147764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatabodtit/pseuds/whatabodtit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin and Eren move in together right out of high school, is Mikasa really okay with Eren being so far away from her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"One scoop of mint chocolate chip, please" Armin said to the woman at the counter.

"I'll have chocolate" Eren told her when she sent a questioning gaze his way.

"One scoop or two, sir?"

"One. Please." He tacked the "magic word" on at the end to make Armin, who had  _begged_  for ice cream, happy.

She handed Armin their ice creams while Eren paid.

"Good?" Eren asked as he took his ice cream from Armin. Armin nodded. "Alright, let's go."

The bell dinged as the door shut behind them and they started walking towards Armin's apartment. He'd lived there alone for about a year now. His grandfather died last year, and Armin didn't want to burden anyone, no matter how much Eren asked him to move in to Hannes's house with him and Mikasa. They didn't get to see each other as often any more since Armin graduated early and Eren still had a year left.

Eren took the last bite of his cone before Armin handed him the rest of his own, "You know you can move in-"

"No, Eren." Armin sighed as Erend leaned down to kiss his nose, "E-Eren! We're still outside!"

"Then unlock the door." Eren smiled smugly as Armin swiped his keycard.

"You got ice cream on my nose."

"Yeah yeah. Come here."

"No way, we're still in the hall and your face is all sticky."

Armin led Eren down the hall and up the steps ("you know, there is a working elevator"), then finally into Armin's apartment, where Armin pushed Eren towards the bathroom to wash his face. At the sound of running water, Armin moved to the living room where he straightened the stack of books next to the couch and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch. He settled himself on the floor in front of the television. He shuffled through the basket Eren kept putting movies in. He sifted through action movie after action movie until he found the ones Eren bought specifically for Armin. The ones at the bottom of the basket were all based on books Armin had read. Armin wasn't a big movie watcher, so Eren tried to find something Armin would be able to sit and watch for the two hours required to collect the story.

"What are we watching?" Eren asked, making Armin jump.

" _Harry Potter_ , if you're all clean."

"I am, I am." Eren sat down in his Reserved-For-Boyfriend spot on the far end of the couch. He pulled the blanket over his lap and waited for Armin to put the movie in and come sit next to him.

Armin snuggled into his side, resting his head on Eren's shoulder, Eren wrapped his arm over Armin's shoulders and pulled him in closer.

Hedwig's theme played on the screen, and Armin got up again. He switched the light off and came back.

"Eren." He said, then pointed to the floor. Eren slid down and sat on the floor, leaning his back against the couch. Armin settled between his legs and pressed into his chest. Eren wrapped his arms around Armin's waist as Armin reach back and pulled the blanket down off the couch and threw it over them.

Eren pressed his face into Armin's hair and kissed the top of his head.

The movie properly started and Armin murmured something about Aunt Petunia not having the right hair color. Eren sighed, having heard all that was "wrong" with the movie ten times over. Armin's back straightened.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing, just you moved your hand and I thought you were doing something else."

"Ohh~" Eren started moving his hand downward, until Armin swatted him away, telling him to "watch the movie, Eren." flatly.

The rest of the movie went on without incident, but more likely because they'd both fallen asleep around the time Hagrid came to get Harry from the shack in the ocean than because Eren was actually interested in what was happening. Armin woke up as the credits were going over, and lightly pressed back a little more to wake Eren.

"Ready for bed?" He asked, standing up and offering Eren his hand.

Eren looked at his watch, "it's only eight thirty."

"You still fell asleep."

"So did you."

"Only because some high schooler wasn't keeping me awake."

"Maybe you need a more energetic high schooler then."

"Are you kidding? You're like a puppy who hasn't been out all day, but you're like that  _all the time."_

Eren took Armin's hand and pulled him back down, "maybe that's your fault."

"How could that be my fault?" Armin shook his hair out of his face and straddled Eren's hips, then regretted shaking his hair away because now he wanted to cover the blush.

"You're not at school any more, so I have to wait  _all day_ to see you. Sometimes  _two_ days."

"Oh, however do you manage."

"I don't know, maybe you should come live with us."

"No." Armin pressed his lips to Eren's, "you come live with me."

"Okay." Eren whispered against Armin's mouth. 


	2. Chapter 2

Eren shoved as much of his stuff in one bag as possible.

"You're going to break the zipper." Mikasa said flatly, more focussed on folding clothes and putting them in a different bag than on Eren trying to break things.

"I'm not gonna break the zipper." Eren pulled on the zipper, forcing it another inch shut. Mikasa set the shirt she was folding down and watched Eren struggle with the zipper. He kept pulling on it, until finally he fell backwards. He looked up at Mikasa, he held up the zipper piece, "so, the zipper broke."

"I know." Mikasa picked the shirt back up and re-folded it before putting it in the bag she was packing, then moved down to Eren's bag and started pulling all the crumpled up clothes out of it, folding them, and managing to fit everything from that bag in the other bag with the the stuff already in the other bag. She zipped the bag shut and pulled another one out of Eren's closet.

"Put all your things that aren't clothes in here." Eren started throwing video games and movies in the bag, Mikasa unplugged his phone charger and wrapped around itself neatly and put it in the bag, then did the same with his computer charger.

"Okay, all ready?"

"Yeah." Mikasa picked up one of the bags and threw it over her shoulder.

"Hey, Mikasa."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being okay with this. And helping me pack." Armin offered had offered to help, but Eren told him he could handle it, so Armin had stayed home and was probably cleaning everything so that it would be perfect for Eren when he got there.

"It's fine." Mikasa said, walking out the door.

Hannes saw them come out in the hall, "you ready to go?"

"Yeah"

"Hey, you know, if things don't work out, you can always come back here."

"I know. Thank you."

"Alright, go get in the car."

The three of them piled into the car, Mikasa in front. It wasn't a long walk to Armin's apartment, but Hannes and Mikasa wanted to be there for the whole "my baby boy is growing up" thing.

Mikasa and Eren unbuckled as they neared the apartment. Hannes parked on the side of the road.

"You can't park here."

"Oh, I was just going to drop you off."

"Oh, uh, okay. Thanks then. Later."

"Come back and visit, okay?"

"He will." Mikasa answered for him.

"Yeah, for sure." Eren took the other bag from Mikasa and she hugged him quickly before getting back in the car.

"See you tomorrow" she said before Hannes gave a little wave and they were off.

Eren pushed the button to let Armin know he was there.

"Eren, I gave you a keycard." Armin's voice came at him through the speaker.

"You did."

"Did you lose it?"

"No."

"Then come inside."

"It's weird."

"Inside is weird?"

"Using the keycard is weird. Buzz me in."

Not pushing the button for Eren to hear, Amin sighed, and let him in. Moments later Eren was opening the door to Armin's apartment.

"This is why you have an elevator, by the way."

"Shut up," Armin laughed, "go put your stuff in our room. I'm making lunch."

"Well aren't you the perfect little housewife?"

"On second thought, I think maybe Hannes should come pick you up."

Eren pecked Armin on the cheek, laughed, and walked towards the hallway. Eren looked around the room, "put your stuff in our room". Woah. He set his bags down, vowing to properly unpack later, when Armin could help him and show him where everything should go. The room was small, as apartment rooms tended to be, but Armin didn't really take up much space. Eren was worried he'd throw the house out of balance. The bedroom consisted of a bed with a dark green comforter and and tan pillow cases; a bookshelf that was absolutely full of books that Eren knew Armin had read; and a small table on one side of the bed that had one book and a lamp on it. It's not like this was the first time Eren had been in Armin's room, they were both too romantic to avoid the bedroom. But this was, however, the first time Eren had been in there since the room went from Armin's room to our room. It was a whole new feeling.

He went back out to the kitchenette area where Armin had bowls of macaroni on the buffet/bar/counter. Neither of them really knew what to call it. Armin stood in front of a counter, getting forks out of a drawer, he had his hair tucked behind one ear, light yellow strands whisping around his head; his white button-down was untucked and laying over his dark-wash jeans.

Eren met him in the middle of the kitchen and put his hands on Armin’s waist. Armin stopped moving and looked up at him, blue eyes meeting green, “you’re beautiful, you know” Eren whispered.

“Shut up!” Armin laughed and swatted Eren’s hands away.

Armin handed Eren a fork before hopping onto the barstool. Eren’s feet rested on the bar around the lower middle of the chair, but Armin’s just dangled there. They ate in comfortable silence.

* * *

“Mikasa just texted me. She’s on her way.”

 

“Okay, are you ready?”

“I think so.”

“Last day, Eren, you have to be prepared on your last day.” Two weeks had passed since Eren moved in with Armin. Eren’s final exams were over and things were going smoothly.

“Last day of junior year. I have to go back in three months, so what’s the point?”

“Shut up, Eren, give me your bag.” Eren handed Armin his school bag, which Armin quickly shuffled through and put pencils in, “who do you borrow pencils from with me not there?”

“Mikasa mostly.”

Armin had gathered enough credits by the start of the second semester of their junior year because he’d skipped freshman math, english, science, and history, so he graduated a year and half early, leaving Eren and Mikasa to finish out school. The way things were going, Mikasa would be able to graduate today, but they both knew she wouldn’t, simply because Eren wasn’t able to.

The buzzer rang and Armin handed Eren his bag, goodbyes were said and Eren kissed Armin quickly before darting out the door.

School was as uneventful as ever. Being that it was the last day, they didn’t do anything but talk and screw around, but Eren was still bored. Eren looked around and saw how everyone interacted with each other. Reiner and Bertholdt had the desks pushed together, as did Ymir and Krista. Annie sat on the floor in the corner with a book, Connie and Sasha had pushed their desks together and were playing something that looked like Animal Crossing on their DS’s. Jean and Marco were on the floor in the corner opposite of Annie, Marco was bright red, and Jean kept trying to get him to kiss him. Science was Eren’s favorite class to be in, because their teacher, Hanji, often left them to their own devices, too caught up in their own experiments to reprimand a bunch of high schoolers. Eren looked up at the clock. One more hour until school was over. One more hour.

“Mikasa.”

“Yes?”

“Are you coming over after school?”

“Do you want me to?”

“If you’re not doing anything.”

“Don’t you have to make sure it’s okay with Armin?”

“Armin told me to invite you over. Something about celebrating.”

“Okay. Five minutes until transition, get your stuff together.”

Mikasa slid her book into her bag and zipped it up. Eren sent Armin a text.

She said yes. b home soon. -Eren

Not thirty seconds later, Eren got a reply.

Okay. Don’t text in class. -Armin

Im in scnce. -Eren

Don’t text in class. -Armin

Was Armin just waiting by his phone?

Lst day. -Eren

When do you have Ackerman? -Armin

How was he typing all this out so quickly, anyways?

Nxt. -Eren

He’ll take your phone. -Armin

I kno. Does it bther u tht he has the sme lst name as Mikasa? -Eren

We’ve talked about this, Eren. It’s just a coincidence. -Armin

Bt r u sure? They look a lttle alike. -Eren

I’m sure. -Armin

Gotta go, bll jst rang. Love u. -Eren

Love you too, Eren. -Armin

Eren put his phone in his bag and followed Mikasa out. Hanji called goodbyes after them.

They walked into Professor Ackerman’s class and sat in their assigned seats, which were arranged in pin-straight rows. Not a speck of dust could be seen in this room.

The teacher stood by his desk talking to Professor Smith, who happened to be head of the history department, about what to do with this class. They did little things together like this often, they were in the military together before becoming teachers. Eren and Jean thought they were sleeping together. One of Eren’s favorite conversations with Armin was about that subject.

“Eren, that’s rude. How would you feel if people assumed we were sleeping together?”

“We are sleeping together.”

Armin had gone pink, “yeah, but do people assume that?”

“Yes actually.”

“R-really?”

“Did you not know? Sasha and Connie have been betting on when we’re going to ‘come out’ for two years now.”

“They-really? Why?”

“I don’t know, it gives them something to do.”

Armin was the smartest person Eren knew, but he was really dense. In the end, Professor Levi Ackerman came to school with a hickey and everyone dubbed it ‘Erwin’. Levi did not acknowledge this, but he also did not deny it.

“Sit.” the professor's voice was commanding, but flat.

Eren loved his class because he admired Levi, he was the strongest in his corp when they were in the military, Erwin was his commanding officer or something, but Levi had his own special hand-picked troop.

The only thing Eren didn’t like about this class was how Levi assigned their seats so that all the talkative kids were surrounded by kids who actually cared about their education. Sure, when Armin was there it meant Armin and Eren were next to each other, but now that Armin was gone, Eren was next to Marco, who wouldn’t even talk to Jean during this class.

They ended up doing some lecture on World War Two and a fake training exercise that Jean swore couldn’t be legal. They went outside for it and everything. It was like a gym class. Eren thought it was fun. Annie and Reiner raced, and Betholdt got caught up in it. Connie and Sasha were screwing around playing tag and getting reprimanded twice. Ymir/Jean kept trying to pull Krista/Marco off to the side.

The bell rang to signal freedom, and everyone made a break for it. Eren and Mikasa walked the three blocks to Armin and Eren’s apartment.

As soon as Eren walked through the door, Armin jumped on him, almost knocking him over. He placed erratic kisses over Eren’s cheeks before hopping down and pulling them both inside.

“Congratulations you guys! You made it to senior year!”

“Is that a typical greeting?” Mikasa asked, feigning disgust.

“Not at all.” Eren said, smiling wider than he had on that when Armin had asked him to move in. Well, Eren’s mouth was a little occupied at the time of the asking, but had it not been he totally would have been smiling only slightly less than he was now.

Eren reached for Armin’s hand, pulling him in for a real kiss, but breaking apart before Mikasa had time to clear her throat.

“Sit. I’ll be right back.”

Mikasa sat on the couch, but Eren moved to follow Armin, “no, you too, Eren, go sit.”

“But-”

“No.

“But I want-” Eren cut himself off that time.

“You want what?”

“A kshhh”

“Hmm?”

“Oh my god, Armin, come here.” They stood in the kitchen, just out of Mikasa’s sight, and Eren pulled Armin into him, pressing their lips together. Armin kissed him back, but only for a few seconds before pulling away.

“Later. Right now is you and Mikasa time. Us time later. Go sit.” Eren faked a groan, but went to sit with Mikasa anyways. A few seconds later, Armin was bringing out a cake, three plates, and silverware, and setting it on the coffee table. Mikasa lit up at him, “Armin, you didn’t have to do this.”

“I was so bored. I was so bored. I needed to do something, so I made a cake and looked for a job.”

“A job? You didn’t tell me you were looking for a job.”

“Later.”

Armin lit eleven candles on the cake, then looked to Eren and Mikasa, “there’s not a graduation song, so just blow them out together.”

Eren laughed started counting down from five. At one he and Mikasa blew and the candles went out.

Armin cut the cake and put a slice on each plate, “eat guys. Let me know what you think, I tried a new recipe.

Mikasa took a bite and looked at Armin, “so, job hunting?”

“Uh, well, not really. I mean, I’ve still got enough money from the insurance when grandfather died, but I’m going to need a job within this year…”

“How about a bakery?”

“What?”

“Open a bakery. You like cooking, and you’re good at it. I’d pay for your cakes, and look at this,” she gestured towards Eren, “free labor.”

“Is that legal?”

“Yeah, I mean, he’d volunteer anyways and you know it.”

“No, me, at only eighteen opening my own bakery?”

“Well, yeah, you’re technically an adult now, so, yeah.”

“I’m in.” Eren said, swallowing a bite.

“Okay.” Armin said, “let’s do this. We’ll need to find a space nearby, and we can do it!”

Eren beamed at Armin, “great! Let’s start looking for a space tomorrow!”


	3. Chapter 3

The handle squeaked as the water slowly stopped. Armin stepped out of the bathroom moments later with his hair thrown back off his face and his towel wrapped around his chest.

“Hey, Armin?”

“Yeah?” Armin didn’t look up at Eren, who had his toothbrush in one hand and his phone in the the other.

“Why do you wear the towel like that?”

“Like what?”

“Around the top like that. Most guys wear it around their waists.”

“Are you comparing me to ‘most guys’?” Armin dug through the dresser, looking for a very specific shirt.

“Of course not.” Suddenly Eren was behind him, pressing against his back and kissing his neck.

“Eren-” Armin arched into his touch, “we-stop it, we need to get ready.”

Eren placed one more kiss on Armin’s shoulder and backed away, moving to the closet to get clothes. Armin tugged his underwear and jeans on before dropping the towel and pulled the shirt over his head before Eren had time to turn around.

“Is that mine?” Eren asked when he turned around to find Armin sitting on the bed, combing his hair into place in a light tan-green shirt with little brown strings at the top.

“It’s warm.”

“It’s summer.” Eren moved towards him until he stood between Armin’s knees.

“It’s cute.”

“ _You’re_ cute.” Eren leaned down and pressed his lips against Armin’s. He moved back, expecting Armin to push him off, but Armin followed him up and fisted his hands in Eren’s shirt, pulling him down on top of him.

“I thought we had to get ready?” Eren laughed against Armin’s mouth.

“We do.” Armin said, just before kissing Eren one more time, and rolling out from under him. Armin bent over to pick up the towel he’d left on the floor, and Eren thanked every celestial entity for Armin’s ass in tight jeans.

That day they went to five different buildings ranging from used-to-be art studios to a probably-going-to-be Olive Garden. They got back home around six. Eren threw himself at the couch and laid down. Armin settled in front of him, Eren’s chest to Armin’s back. The couch really wasn’t big enough for both of them to be laying on it like this, but neither of them really cared. Armin sighed and pressed further into Eren. Eren threw his arm over Armin and laced their fingers together.

“This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.” Armin hadn’t expected to fall in love with the first space he saw, but he didn’t think it would take more than a whole day.

“We’ll try again tomorrow, okay?” Armin nodded and closed his eyes.

* * *

 

When Armin woke up an hour later, Eren was lighting candles on the coffee table.

“What are you doing?”

“Hey Armin,” Eren ignored his question.

“Yeah?”

“When’s the last time we went on a date?”

“What?”

“A date. You know, two people who like each other get together and do something fun or romantic. When’s the last time we did that?” Armin thought for a moment, “huh. I think the last real date we went on was ice cream two weeks ago.”

“Exactly. So, here we have a romantic candle lit dinner for two in the comfort of our own living room.”

Armin wrinkled his nose, “you didn’t cook, did you?” All Eren knew how to make was survival food. It’s not that he was a bad cook, but more that survival food wasn’t meant to taste good.

“No. I ordered take out. Get down here.”

Eren and Armin sat on the floor at opposite ends of the coffee table. They had boxes of take out Chinese and two candles between them.

“Hey, Eren?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re perfect, you know that?”

Eren’s face was heating up, but he put on a smug smile, “I know. I’m pretty great.”

They both laughed and ate and talked about everything but the bakery.

* * *

 

“Mr. Arlert, glad to see you haven’t given up.” the same cheerful realtor that showed them around yesterday greeted them at the door.

“He literally will not rest until he’s sold at least ten cakes.” Eren said jokingly, but Armin nodded.

She smiled at Eren and unlocked the door, “so this one is two story, move in ready. The second floor can be used as anything really, but most would use it as an apartment. I understand you’re not wanting to move right now, but it is within Eren’s school district if you do decide. The upstairs portion is one bedroom, two bath, a kitchen, and a living area. The lower floor, as you can see, is a wide open space, with a kitchen area at back, and two bathrooms. This was a cafe a few months ago.” Eren was walking around touching the walls and looking at the tan paint. Armin listened closely to what Petra was saying before walking back to the kitchen and looking around.

“Eren.” Armin looked through a window from the kitchen into the rest of the store.“Yeah?”

“What do you think?”

Eren turned to Petra, “can we see upstairs?”

“Of course.” she led them to a door leading to a staircase.

“Look, Eren, no elevator.”

“Hah, I know, looks like this would be your excuse for not using it.”

They walked around the top floor, Armin looked into the bathroom, “there’s a ladder?”

“It leads to the roof. Maintenance and what not.”

Armin nodded.

“Hey, Arm, come look at this kitchen.” Armin followed Eren’s voice to a small kitchen area.

“Woah.” For the size of the room, there sure was a lot of stuff in there.

“All stainless steal appliances and granite counter tops.”

Armin ran his hand over the island counter, “I love it.”

Eren smiled at him and moved towards the back of the apartment. Armin followed after. They walked through a living room and straight to a bedroom. Eren stuck his head in and turned to Armin, “what do you think?” Armin looked in the bedroom. It was just another bedroom, just a plain room with a bed and a nightstand and a dresser. Armin turned to Eren, “I love it. I love it.”

“So, what do we think, boys?” Petra said behind them.

“We’ll take it.” they said in unison.

* * *

 

Eren’s first thought was to call and tell Mikasa, “Mikasa! We found a place!”

“Where?”

“About a mile away from Armin’s apartment. His lease is up in a month and we’re moving in here.”

“A mile?”

“Yeah, it’s a little further from you and Hannes than we had wanted, but it’s closer to town and the school and all. You’ve gotta come see it when we’re all moved in!”

“Why do you insist on being so far away from me?” her voice was quiet but hard on the other end.

“What?”

“Never mind. I have to go.”

“Okay? Bye?”

“Bye.”

Eren walked back inside to find Armin sitting on the floor wrapping dishes in newspaper and setting them in a box. He’d bought paper plates and solo cups on the way home because he knew he’d want to start packing as soon as possible.

“What did Mikasa say?” Armin was smiling. He hadn’t really stopped smiling since they signed the papers.

“I don’t think she likes how far away it is from her.”

“That’s to be expected.” Armin looked down at the last bowl in his hands.“Yeah. Need help?” Eren switched the energy in the room from awkward to happy in a matter of seconds. 

“Yeah, actually. I’m about to wrap all the framed photos over there and put them in this box.” he said, patting the box next to the one full of dishes. Eren went over and stacked the photos on top of each other and set them in a pile next to Armin before sitting down. Armin handed him a stack of newspapers, and they got to work.

“Hey, look, this one’s of me!” Eren had a photo of himself in a dark green t-shirt against a grey-black background looking painfully posed and uncomfortable.

“Yeah, uh, it’s your school photo from last year. I had Hannes send it to me because you never give me pictures of yourself.”

“And this one’s Mikasa!” Mikasa’s was essentially the same thing, but she hadn’t bothered to smile.

“Also her school photo from last year, I asked Hannes for that one too.” Eren wrapped the photos and picked up another one.

“This one is all three of us! Look how little we were!” Eren showed him a photo of Eren sitting between Mikasa and Armin on a brick wall just short enough for the legs to dangle an inch above the ground.

“Your mom took that photo the year Mikasa moved in with you. And this one’s from before you met Mikasa,” Armin held up a picture of Eren and Armin together at seven years old, they were holding hands and Armin looked like he’d been crying, but was laughing anyways, Eren had the biggest smile you can imagine on his face.

“Hey! I remember that! You’d dropped your grandfather’s book in a mud puddle and you were crying because you thought you’d get in trouble, so I walked you home and told him what happened and he started joking about it.”

“Yeah, he took the picture and said to remember that he loved me no matter what I Did wrong.” Armin smiled sadly at the photo and wrapped it in newspaper before setting it on top of the others in the box.

“Look! Our freshman class photo!” Eren held up the photo of their whole freshman class gathered in front of the school. Eren stood between Armin and Mikasa at the front with his fingers up behind Armin’s head. Jean and Marco on the other side of Mikasa holding hands; Ymir and Christa near Connie and Sasha towards the back; Bertholdt with his eyes closed between Armin and Reiner, and Annie off to the side looking like she could care less about anything that could ever happen ever; Mina standing in the middle posing properly with her hands behind her back; Franz and Hannah standing a little too close together next to Mina. A line of teachers stood behind them, Zoe Hanji next to Levi Ackerman (standing on a step stool) next to Erwin Smith next to Mike Zacharius next to Oluo Bozado next to Rico Brzenska next to the principal, Dot Pixis.

Armin nodded and smiled while Eren wrapped it in newspaper.

“Eren, look, this one’s of you and Mikasa.” Armin held up a photo of Eren pouting and Mikasa trying to hand him cotton candy.

“You took that picture! That’s the day we went to the zoo and that zebra bit my hand!”

“We told you not to stick your hands in the fence.”

“But did you see the zebra?!” 

Armin laughed and wrapped the photo.

“Armin.” Armin looked over, expecting Eren to show him another photo, but instead Eren leaned in and kissed him, “I love you.” Eren whispered against his lips.

“I love you too.” they wrapped the rest of the photos in comfortable silence. As Armin put the last photo in the box, Eren stood up and stretched, then reached a hand out to Armin. Armin grabbed his hand and started to stand, but Eren pulled him up fast and with more force than expected, and caught him against his chest.

“Don’t leave me, okay?”

“What? Eren, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I just, I feel like I’m not good enough for you. I mean, you’re smarter than me and you’re about to own a bakery and probably got to college in a year, and I kind of feel like you’re leaving me behind.”

“Eren…” Armin pressed in closer to Eren’s chest. “Eren, I love you so much. I won’t leave you. I am going to college soon, I hope, but I’ll probably just go to the community college in town. Look,” Armin wiggled away from Eren and grabbed the folder off the table, “see this?”

“The paperwork for the bakery?”

“Yeah. Now look, remember that second floor? Who do you think is going to live there?”

“Us?”

“Yeah. Us. Not me. Not you. Us. The two of us, living together, owning a business together, that’s all that matters to me. One day we’ll travel together. That’s all I want. I don’t care that you’re still in school. I won’t ever leave you, as long as you don’t leave me.” Armin was crying at this point and Eren had his arms around him again, wiping his tears and kissing all over his face.

“I love you. I love you, Armin.” He kept saying those words over and over again like it was all he knew how to say. 

* * *

 

A week later everything but what they needed to use daily was packed up and Eren woke up to the sound of Armin talking to someone in the other room. He crawled out of bed and made his way to the livingroom, where Armin sat with Mikasa and Hannes on the couch.

“Morning” he said, getting their attention.

“Eren, I’m sorry, did we wake you?” Armin stood up and motioned for Eren to sit down.

“No, it’s fine. You should’ve gotten me up sooner.” Eren sat down and Armin sat on his lap, “what are you guys doing here?”

“Are we not allowed to visit you anymore?” Hannes joked.

“N-no! It’s not that, I just, didn’t know you were coming…”

“I told you last night.” Armin remembered very clearly.

***

Armin was curled against Eren’s chest, Eren placed soft kisses over Armin’s head.

“Mikasa and Hannes are coming over tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” Eren responded before pulling Armin up for a kiss, letting his hands travel down his torso and up his shirt.

***

“This place is less… homey now that you’ve got it all packed up.” Hannes commented.

“Yeah, the walls are bare and all, but that’s not really what makes this home.”

Armin said, leaning into Eren and tipping his head back to look at him. Mikasa feigned gagging. “I am a little upset to be leaving though, I’d never really thought about living anywhere other than here.”

“I know what you mean, after taking these two in all these years ago I never thought they’d be leaving, but look at this, my boy’s all grown up.”

“Far from it,” Mikasa said, “he’s still just a child.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you can’t even take care of yourself. Why do you think I’m here?”

“I don’t need you always looking out for me! I’m not your kid brother, Mikasa!”

“That’s exactly what you are!”

“Shut up!”

Armin and Hannes had jumped up and were trying to soothe them.

“E-Eren, calm down, it’s fine, you’re fine, she’s fine.” Armin was panicking.

“Mikasa, I think it’s time we go…” Hannes trailed off, not really knowing how to deal with them even after all these years.

“Fine.” Mikasa said and stood up.

“I’m sorry.” Hannes said to Armin before walking out the door.

“Eren Jaeger you get back in here right this instant.” Armin remained calm, but his eyes said ‘you may not make it out of this alive’.

“Yes?” Eren peeped from the hallway.

“What the hell was that?”

“She called me a child!”

“You apparently are a child!”

“Whatever. I have things to do today.” Eren said, turning back to their room to get dressed. Ten minutes later he was rushing a goodbye, kissing Armin on the cheek, and out the door. Armin didn’t understand how he could say something like that to her. “I’m not your kid brother”? Doesn’t he realise that he is though? He and Hannes are the only family she has left after her own parents, and then Eren’s, were taken from her. Doesn’t he realise how much she really does value him as her little brother?

Armin ran a brush through his hair and set off to the bus station. He boarded a bus into town and went to Lowes. He spent an hour in the paint department just looking at swatches, occasionally turning to the side and remembering Eren wasn’t there to give his opinion on whether La Fonda Copper or Del Coronado Amber would be better for the bakery walls. He ended up with over thirty paint swatches in his bag to show Eren when he got home.When Armin got home around two Eren was already there.

Eren met him at the door when he came in and pulled him in for a kiss, “I’m sorry about how I acted earlier. I was being childish. You were both right, I am just a child and I need to grow up. I’ve already called Mikasa and apologized.”

“Good. I have stuff for you to look at.”

They sat at the coffee table for two hours looking at paint swatches for the bakery. They narrowed it down to a light blue color called Sea Air, a greyish blue color called Gravity, and a purple called Garnet Dust. They stared at the three swatches on the table for thirty seconds.

“How are we going to decide?” Eren’s voice was almost comically dark.

Armin stood up and went straight to the door. He came back a minute later with Marco and Jean behind him.

“Jean?! Why are you here?”

“Why are you here?!” Marco and his parents lived across the hall from Armin, and Eren knew that, and Marco knew that Eren lived with Armin now, but apparently the message hadn’t gotten to Jean yet.

“I live here, asshole.”

Armin jumped in front of Eren and held the swatches up to Marco, “which one do you like best?”

“Uhhh, the blue one I guess…”

“Okay, thanks! Eren, the blue one cool with you?”

“Yeah, I kind of liked that one too.”

“I like the grey one.” Jean jumped in.

“No one asked what you liked.” Eren said faster than Armin could process what was happening.

“You wanna say that to my-” Marco was pulling Jean out of the apartment and apologizing to Armin for any difficulties his boyfriend may have caused. Armin smiled and apologized for Eren's behavior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I just really like photos///////


	4. Chapter 4

The next week, Eren was hardly ever home. He would leave early in the morning, leaving a note to Armin saying he had to go out and would be back later, then get home in time for dinner with his clothes a mess. Eren didn’t say anything about it, and Armin didn’t ask.

“I started painting the bakery today.” Armin said over dinner on Friday.

“Today? Why?”

“We’re moving in in a week, I figured we should start now so it’s done before we start moving furniture in.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.”

“It’s fine, you were busy.”

“Yeah…” Eren looked down at his plate.

They finished eating in silence and went to their room. Armin curled up against Eren.

“Where have you been all week?”

Eren paused for a moment, “with Mikasa.”

“Why?”

“She misses me and says we should spend more time together.”

Armin nodded, not entirely satisfied with that answer, but drifted into sleep anyways.

He woke up early the next morning to find Eren wasn’t in bed with him. He got up and headed to the kitchen, but heard Eren in the living room before he turned the corner in the hall.

“Just do this for me, please? I can’t tell you why, just, if he asks, I was with you all week.”

A pause.

“Thanks, Mikasa, you’re the best.”

Armin head Eren’s phone click shut. He turned on his heel and went back to bed, locking the door behind him. He crawled under the blankets and started crying. It smelled too much like Eren, so he threw threw the blankets off himself and sat on the floor next to the bed.

When he heard the front door open and click shut he got up and stripped the bed. He threw all the sheets and pillows in the wash, then sprayed the mattress with bleach. Armin busied himself doing anything and everything he could. There wasn’t much to be done and the whole house smelled like Levi Ackerman’s classroom by noon.

Armin took a shower to get all the probably-not-good-for-his-skin cleaning products off, then took a bus down to the bakery, where he spent the rest of the day painting downstairs and cleaning upstairs.

* * *

“Armin, Armin wake up,” Eren knelt next to Armin on the floor. It was nearly midnight and Armin was asleep on the bakery floor. “Shit, Armin, get up please.” Armin groaned and opened his eyes slowly.

 

“Don’t touch me” he muttered, getting up and backing away from Eren.

“A-Armin, what?”

“Don’t touch me.” Armin said again, louder, trying to look tough but tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.

Armin brushed off his clothes, not that they’d needed it after how hard he’d scrubbed those floors, and walked out of the bakery. The last bus had already made it’s rounds, so he started walking. It was only a mile away, how hard could it be?

Eren jogged after him, “Armin, you can’t walk all the way back home on your own. I’ll call a cab, just, Armin. Armin!” Armin crossed the street without looking, causing two cars going in opposite directions slam their brakes and beep their horns at him.

Eren waited for the cars to pass before running after him, “Armin! What the hell was that?”

Armin abruptly stopped and turned around, Eren almost ran into him, but jumped back just enough.

“Where have you been all week?”

Eren looked down, “I told you, I was with Mikasa.”

Armin turned back around and kept walking, not even trying to hold the tears back.

An hour later Armin slammed the apartment door in Eren’s face, but didn’t have the heart to actually lock him out. He went straight to their bedroom and locked the door. He didn’t much care where Eren slept that night. He crawled into his probably sterile bed and buried himself in blankets that smelled too strongly of disinfectant and laundry detergent.

After having Eren next to him in bed for so long, it was hard to fall asleep alone.

* * *

Eren stood in the hall between his and Armin’s apartment and Marco’s. He called Mikasa.

 

“Eren? Are you okay?” did she ever sleep?

“No.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Armin’s mad at me.”

“What did you do?”

“I think he knows I haven’t been with you all week. Did you tell him?”

“No. He’s not stupid Eren. I don’t even know what you’ve been up to, he has to know it’s something.”

“What do I do?”

“Tell him what you’ve really been doing.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“I can’t yet.”

“You’re going to break his heart if you haven’t already.” She said just before the line went dead.

Eren went inside and pulled a blanket out of the linen closet before laying down on the couch. He knew he wasn’t welcome where Armin was right now. Hannes’s words played back to him in his head, “if things don’t work out, you can always come back here.” Things would work out. Things would work out. Things _would_ work out.

* * *

The next morning Eren got up earlier than he had all week and stuck post it notes all over the house before he left. 

When Armin woke up he read every single one of them, on on the bathroom mirror, toilet seat, stove, microwave, tv, living room bookshelf.

_I love you._

_I’m sorry._

_I love you._

_I’ll meet you at the bakery today._

_I love you._

_This is the last day, I promise._

“The last day”? The last day for what? Armin immediately thought of their relationship. Their last day together. Eren was running off every day to go hook up with someone better than Armin and today he was finally going to break it off with him. Armin slid to the floor and put his head in his hands. He was probably going to dehydrate if he kept crying like this.

* * *

A little bell Armin had set up dinged as Eren entered the bakery.

 

“That’s new,” he said, and smiled at Armin.

Armin didn’t smile back.

“Okay, I know I haven’t been around much this week, but I’ve been trying to get this done for almost a year and I wanted to do it when you turned eighteen but I didn’t have the money yet.”

Armin just stared at him, not saying anything and trying his best to ignore the burning in his eyes.

Eren moved forward and put his hands on Armin’s hips, but Armin backed up, “a year? You’ve been seeing someone else for a year and you’re just now telling me?”

“What? No, that’s not, I, what?”

“I heard you on the phone with Mikasa. What else would you not tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her about this because I thought you’d want to.”

“What?”

“Look,” Eren backed up a step and put his hand in his jacket pocket, “I’ve been saving for about a year, but I didn’t have enough when you turned eighteen, so I didn’t do it then. With the bakery opening soon I figured now would be as good a time as any, so I got a job. I didn’t need much more, but I wanted to be able to do it before the bakery opened, so I worked longer hours and well, I guess that wasn’t really a great idea, especially now that I’m a lot less confident than I was a year ago…” Eren trailed off and Armin’s eyes blew out bigger than Eren had ever seen them.

“Oh my god.” Armin covered his mouth with his hand.

Eren got down on one knee.

“E-Eren, I-”

“So, Armin,” Eren pulled a little black box out of his pocket.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Will you marry me?” Eren opened the box to reveal a simple gold band with a diamond nestled in the top.

Armin nodded through his tears, “of course” Eren slid the ring over Armin’s left ring finger and pulled himself up.

“I love you so much.” Armin said, throwing himself at Eren, “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“I wouldn’t trust me either…” Eren laughed, tightening his grip around Armin’s waist and pressing their lips together.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post! I couldn't really find a good place to end it and like////// I'm sorry!

Armin asked some of the kids from school to help them move in furniture and Eren borrowed Hannes’s truck, so now in the bakery, Jean and Eren were taking the couch previously in the apartment down the steps and out to the truck while Marco and Ymir (more Ymir than Marco) were trying to lift the couch from Armin’s apartment up the stairs.

Armin and Eren had gotten almost everything in yesterday by themselves, but Armin thought it’d be fun to have everyone come over and hang out after everything was in.

***

“Jean and Marco are coming tomorrow.” Armin called into the apartment and he shut the door behind him.

“Why?”

“To christen the new home with friendship and love” Armin said, only half-joking.

“Yeah, but then we can’t christen the new home with rough se--”

“Stop talking.” Armin cut him off quickly.

***

“Connie! Sasha! Be careful!” Armin jumped towards them to try and stop their ametuer knife juggling.

* * *

An hour later they were all gathered in the living room watching a movie. Eren sat between Mikasa and Armin on the floor; Jean, Marco, and Bertholdt on the couch; Reiner in front of Bertholdt on the floor; and Ymir and Krista on the floor next to the couch. Armin leaned his head on Eren’s shoulder and snuggled into his side, linking their fingers together.

 

Mikasa stood up, “I’m going to go get some snacks, Armin come with me.”

Armin stood up and followed her to the kitchen.

“Okay, what’s up? He calls me and asks me to lie to you, you run away and fall asleep at the bakery, you make him sleep on the couch, and now you’re all lovey-dovey again?”

“He proposed.”

“What?”

Armin held up his hand, “he got a job, bought a ring, and proposed.”

“Woah.” Mikasa smiled, openly, actually, properly smiled, “congratulations!”

Armin turned a light shade of pink, “thanks, I’m not really sure how to tell anyone else…”

“I’m sure Eren will find a way. I’m happy for you, Brother-In-Law.”

* * *

“Well, I guess I won’t be coming over to borrow sugar anymore!” Marco joked as everyone was leaving.

 

“Are you kidding? This is going to be a bakery in a few weeks! I’ll still be your primary sugar-support.”

“Hah, probably. Later.”

He waved and turned to go out the door, Jean put his arm over his shoulder and pulled him closer as they walked.

It was just Armin, Eren, and Mikasa in the bakery now.

“I better get going, don’t want Hannes to worry.”

“Alright, see you later.” Eren said.

“Call me. And I better get an invite to your wedding.” She joked and walked out the door, not waiting for a response.

“You told her?”

“Of course I told her. I can’t believe you didn’t tell her.”

“Yeah, yeah, but look at the empty house, looks like we can work on that second christening--”

Armin shoved a handful of chips in Eren’s mouth while walking past him. Eren tried to chew and swallow the chips, but ended up getting crumbs all over the place. Armin made his way to the staircase, “sweep that up and meet me upstairs.” He tried for a wink, but was sure he ended up looking like a total dork. He swayed his hips going up the steps, even though he knew Eren couldn’t see him there.

He made his way to their new bedroom, furnished with their old bed and bookcase. He sat on the bed with his back against the wall and a book open in his lap. He got through approximately half a paragraph when he heard Eren coming down the hall. He closed his book and set it on the nightstand. Eren kicked his shoes off and crawled from the foot of the bed up to Armin. He put his hands on the mattress on either side of Armin’s waist. Eren leaned forward to kiss Armin, but Armin slid down the wall, away from Eren’s face. He laughed up at Eren from his new position under his chest.

“Armiiin~”

Armin brought his hands up and started tugging on the front of Eren’s shirt, “off” he said quietly, and Eren complied. Sitting back on his heels over Armin’s abdomen, he tugged the shirt off over his head. Armin reached out to touch Eren’s chest and stomach, his face dusting a light pink. He and Eren had been sleeping together for a long time, they confessed that they liked each other in fourth grade, started dating in sixth grade, and had sex for the first time in eighth grade but Armin was only recently becoming more open in what he wanted.

Eren leaned forward to try and kiss him again, but Armin turned his face, Eren’s lips only brushing his cheek.

“Get off me” Armin managed through his laughter. Eren complied immediately,curious as to what Armin was planning. Eren sat back against the wall and waited for Armin to do whatever. Armin rolled onto his stomach before sitting up and crawling onto Eren’s lap. He shook his hair out of his face and rested his hands on Eren’s shoulders. He tried to look serious and sexy, but he knew he just looked like a dork again. Een reached up and started unbuttoning Armin’s shirt. He leaned forward and presses soft kisses to Armin’s chest as it was exposed, because apparently his lips were off limits.

Once the shirt was off Armin moved his hands from Eren’s shoulders to his face and pulled him back up to eye level. Eren leaned forward to kiss him, thinking this was what Armin wanted now, but Armin moved up a few inches and kissed Eren’s forehead, laughing again. Armin slid down and unbuttoned Eren’s pants and pulled the zipper down slowly, then rolled his pants down his hipsEren leaned forward to try and kiss him again, but Armin moved back again, rolling off Eren’s lap. He crawled off the bed and walked out the door.

 _What the hell is he doing?_ was all Eren could think. He checked the nightstand drawer just to be sure they had everything they needed. They did. Eren got up and walked through the apartment looking for Armin.

Two minutes into his search, he head giggling from the living room. Under the coffee table. Of all the places he could have hidden, he chose under a table. And he couldn’t even keep from laughing.

“Armin” Eren said, crawling under the table with him, making him yelp and jump a little, hitting his back and head on the table.

“Eren!”

“You still can’t play hide-and-seek” Eren laughed out.

“The tension of hiding…” he trailed off, turning a little pink.

“Yeah, yeah, you thought this was gonna be more fun, didn’t you?” Eren’s smile would light up the room, if it weren’t the only thing telling Armin how big of a tease he was being right now.

Armin wiggled out from under the coffee table, Eren following after. He stepped around the table and towards Armin. He brushed Armin’s hair behind his ear, letting his hand follow the soft blonde strands and finally resting his hand on Armin’s neck, he leaned forward, finally pressing their lips together. Eren’s left hand joined the right in Armin’s hair. Armin pulled Eren against him by his hips, and staying there.

* * *

Eren finished painting the last bit of the wall and went behind the counter where Armin was cleaning the kitchen area.

 

“I finished the walls, we can probably start setting up tables in a couple hours. How’s this coming?”

“My back hurts.”

“Why?” Eren’s face was a perfect picture of innocence, and it pissed Armin off.

“Because you wouldn’t even move to the couch last night.”

“You had me chase you all the way out to the living room and crawl under that coffee table before you’d even kiss me, and you were concerned about where in the house I fucked you?”

“Yes.” Armin turned back to the stove he was scrubbing.

“Hey,” Eren got his attention again before pulling him into a kiss, “I love you, you know?”

“I know. I love you too.”

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Day one. Armin woke Eren up at 5:36am.

“Five more minutes…” he mumbled into the pillow, rolling away from Armin

“Eren! You’ve already slept in a half hour!”

Eren groaned and sat up, he squinted in the general direction of Armin before jumping forwards to grab Armin by the waist, and pulled him under the blankets with him.

“Ereeeen,” Armin whined, wiggling in Eren’s grasp, “we need to get up!”

“The sun isn’t even up.”

“I know! He pulled me into bed with him!” If all else fails, try flattery. Armin felt Eren heat up behind him. He still didn’t budge.

Armin hung his hands over the edge of the bed, feeling a cool breeze. He could almost feel the light bulb over his head when he set his hands against the AC vent.

“Eren.”

“Mm?”

“Get up.”

“Mm-mm”

Armin reached behind himself and pressed a cold hand to Eren’s neck. He smirked when Eren shrieked and pulled back.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Armin tried to feign innocence, but knew it wasn’t working.

“How the hell are you so cold?!”

Armin scooted to the foot of the bed and reached for their dresser, opening it and throwing clothes at Eren, electing to ignore him.

“You’re a great personal heater and all, but it’s summer, and we have a bakery to open.”

“But babe-”

“Don’t ‘babe’ me, get dressed. I’ll be downstairs.”

Armin made his way to the bakery and started throwing flour, sugar, and anything else on the counter into various mixing bowls. When Eren finally came down, Armin had three cakes and a loaf of bread in the oven.

“You work fast….” he muttered, coming behind Armin to wrap his arms around his waist while Armin was mixing something in a large white bowl.

“No, you’re just slow. Start mixing.” He slipped out of Eren’s arms and passed him the bowl, he moved down the counter to another bowl to throw things into.

“No good morning kiss?”

“Mix that properly and we’ll talk.”

Eren pouted and kept mixing. The oven beeped and Armin moved to get the cakes out of it, but Eren moved faster, grabbing the oven mitt from Armin and opening the oven in one motion.

“Which one?” he asked, bending down.

“The three cakes should all be done.” Eren pulled them out one at a time and set them on the stove. Armin took the oven mitt back from Eren and pulled a second one out of a drawer to shake the cakes onto a cooling rack.

Eren closed the oven and went back to mixing.

“Eren?”

Eren turned to look at Armin. Armin stood up on his toes and pressed a small kiss to Eren’s lips. Eren set the bowl down and put his hands on Armin’s hips, he slowly deepened the kiss and had Armin pressed against his chest in no time.

“Good morning” Eren panted when they broke apart for breath.

“Hah, yeah, morning.” Armin said, then started laughing.

“What?” Eren stared at Armin, confused, but a smile slowly spread over his own face.

“I love you” Armin nearly whispered once his laughing fit had subsided.

“I love you too.”

“Now get back to mixing and pour it in that pan when you’re done.” Armin gestured towards the round cake pan on the counter.

Eren nodded and two hours later the store was open and the front counter was covered in pastries. Their only three customers were Marco, Jean, and Mikasa. It was only eight in the morning, it makes sense that no one was there yet.

“Sasha said that she and Connie would be here around noon.” Marco said when Armin handed him his change  and a slice of chocolate cake.

Mikasa had just gotten bread, and Jean said he didn’t want anything, but kept taking bits of Marco’s cake.

“The place really looks great, Armin.” Marco said over Jean and Eren bickering.

“Thanks, but the important thing is the food. How is it?”

Mikasa turned to him, “your baking is the best in the country.”

Armin’s face turned a light shade of pink, “hah, I doubt it…”

“Mikasa doesn’t lie, Arm” Eren said,pulling Armin into his side and nuzzling his hair, “why do you think we wanted you to open a bakery?” Eren pushed Armin’s chin up with his thumb and pecked his lips.

“Get a room you two!”

“Shut up, Kirschtein!” Eren pulled Armin around and pressed their mouths together as if to prove a point.

As unprofessional and embarrassing as it was, Armin didn’t care. He was happy, so happy, just being there in a building that he and Eren chose together, with three of their closest friends, and everything was great. With Eren so close, Armin couldn’t be happier.

* * *

Sasha and Conniedidcome around noon. They bought a whole cake and a loaf of bread. They stayed and talked for about an hour before Connie said something about summer courses and they had to leave.

 

The next few hours were slow, as expected. There were a few strangers that came in and bought various pastries.

They closed up shop as six and finished cleaning at seven.

“Do you want to take a bath?” Armin asked as they were walking up stairs.

“Yeah, you can go first.

“Eren.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to take a bath?”

“I said yes, but you can go first.”

“Oh my god, Eren, with me, do you want to take a bath with me?”

“Oh.”

* * *

Getting into the tub together was a struggle. The original plan was to face each other, but they were not actually five inches tall, and had to revise.

 

They ended up with Eren against the back of the tub and Armin’s back pressed against Eren’s chest. Armin grabbed a book off the stack next to the bath and started reading it out loud to Eren.

Eren was Armin’s favorite person to read to, he always listened and asked questions and, when he was able to see the pages, like now, he would ask about the words and phrases that Armin had highlighted. But he also made sure Armin knew when he was bored. Sometimes Armin could go on for hours, read until his throat hurt, and Eren would still be listening intently.

This was not one of those times.

As Armin finished chapter one, Eren ruffled his hair and kissed his shoulder. Armin closed the book and set it on the floor before turning, as best he could, to see Eren.He brought their lips together awkwardly and pulled back sooner than Eren would’ve liked.

“Do you like it?” Armin’s eyes were wide and happy, they always were when he was reading to Eren.

“The book?” Armin nodded.

“It’s better than the time you read me a whole Atlas.” Armin could feel Eren vibrate when he chuckled.

Eren picked the cup up off the side of the bath and filled it with water, then tugged lightly on Armin’s hair, a silent instruction to tip his head back. He complied and Eren poured the water over Armin’s head to wet his hair. Once his hair was dark and heavey with the water, Eren put what was probably too much of Armin’s apple scented shampoo straight onto the back of Armin’s hair.

Armin nearly purred while Eren rubbed the soap in. He fluttered his eyes and leaner further into Eren’s chest. Eren smiled down at his ridiculously adorable boyfriend.

“Shut up…” Armin mumbled.

“I didn’t say anything” Eren’s voice came out almost like he was singing. He filled the cup with water again and started rinsing Armin’s hair.

Armin shifted and turned around, straddling Eren’s legs and letting the water get dangerously close to the rim of the tub.

He took the cup and poured water over Eren, putting his hand on Eren’s forehead to be sure the water didn’t get in his eyes.

Armin squirted Eren’s mildly-axe smelling shampoo before running his fingers through Eren’s hair. He poked his tongue out a little and rubbed the soap into Eren’s scalp. Eren started to laugh.

“What?” Armin frowned at him.

“You’re so concentrated! It’s great! Like my hair is some big mission or something.”

“Shut up! You’re so dirty, I bet if we wash you long enough your hair will be lighter than Jean’s.”

“Please don’t talk about Jean while you’re naked in my lap.”

Armin swatted at the top of his head.

“Close your eyes.” He said softly before pouring the water over him again to rinse out the soap.

Armin reached for his own body wash and poured some into his hands. He started on Eren’s shoulders and made his way down his chest.

“Agh, why are you using that girly stuff on me?”

“It’s not ‘girly’, it’s mine.”

“And you smell like a girl.”

“And you smell like a straight boy, so I guess it works out.”

“So what, you’re my girlfriend now?”

Armin looked at the ring on his hand, “I thought I was your fiance, but I dunno…” Armin smiled at him before leaning in for a kiss. He sucked Eren’s tongue into his mouth, earning a deep moan. Eren ran his hands along Armin’s hips and up his torso. Eren whined when Armin pulled away to pull the plug in the bath. He stood up and turned on the shower head.

* * *

They layed in bed snuggled together under the covers, Eren wrapped around a reading Armin. Eren traced circles over and exposed skin he could reach and placed light kisses on the top of his head. Armin was rereading some little book about the ocean.

 

“Read to me?”

“What do you want me to read?”

Eren rolled out of bed and crawled to the bookshelf like a child. He stood up and got a book off the “Eren, help, I can’t reach it” shelf and climbed back into bed with it.

Armin opened to the first page and began reading. It was a children’s story that started with the traditional “Once Upon A Time” and ended with “The End”, but Eren loved it. He’d had Armin read it to him twice before and had read it on his own at least once.

Armin read to Eren until Eren fell asleep, then he snuggled further against him and buried his face in Eren’s chest. He fell asleep happier than he ever had before.


End file.
